Brewster 'A Glimpse of War through a Private's Eyes', a retrospective account of experiences in World War I, 1915-1917 / John James Brewster - Page 222
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[Page 222]
looking at his arm would want to "operate" on it, but the patient could relate, that three of the best Doctors had examined it.
Every patient in a ward is known by the number of his bed and hanging on a nail over his head is his "Medical History Sheet", giving all his particulars when & where the wounds were received detailed particulars of the wounds & the treatment necessary. One portion of this sheet is a chart upon which is marked twice a day the movements of his pulse & temperature. Taking the latter seems to more important.
This Sheet was not hung over the head of the "Sentry" for which the Sister & Nurses would give no reason.
On the morning of the second day the Sentry having had a good lone, pleasant sleep at once made an effort to get up & put on his suit of "blues", the clothing provided for wounded men, but was immediately sh-o-o-ed to bed again by the Sister in a good humoured but very firm manner. However about eleven o'clock when both Sister & Nurses went off for morning tea, the Sentry quickly got into his blues & made an excursion outside the marquee, but soon after getting into the open air, the whole camp seemed to start whirling round, & he commenced staggering about just like a drunken man, till a friendly "pal" rushed up to his assistance, when he again became steady & with help walked along for a short distance & enjoyed the outing.
This was done each morning for eight or nine days, with only one recurrence of the "staggering" conditions, but on this occasion the help was absolutely necessary & the sentry had to sit for quite 15 minutes to "collect" himself.
During one morning after this time, one of the Nurses just after taking the Sentry's temperature gave quite a deep sigh of relief & when asked for an explanation the sentry was told he was just coming back to "normal".